The Blog Heraldhttp://www.blogherald.com
More blog news, more oftenFri, 31 Jul 2015 12:00:46 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3noThe leading source of news covering social media and the blogosphere.blogheraldhttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with ODEOSubscribe with PodnovaDue.com Review: It Really Is An Easy Way to Keep Track of Your Invoiceshttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/due-com-review-it-really-is-an-easy-way-to-keep-track-of-your-invoices/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/due-com-review-it-really-is-an-easy-way-to-keep-track-of-your-invoices/#respondFri, 31 Jul 2015 12:00:46 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31249As a full-time writer who is consistently taking on different freelance opportunities, at different times, and from different businesses, managing invoices has always been a challenge. Because not all companies use one system, such as PayPal, all of the invoices you send manually or through different platforms can get confusing. If you run your own […]

]]>As a full-time writer who is consistently taking on different freelance opportunities, at different times, and from different businesses, managing invoices has always been a challenge. Because not all companies use one system, such as PayPal, all of the invoices you send manually or through different platforms can get confusing. If you run your own business then chances are you’re even more overwhelmed, which is why Due.com is such an exciting new tool to review.

It fills the gap in invoicing that the online industry is missing without having to charge you an arm and a leg. Check out the review below, improvements I think need to be made, and the verdict that talks about who can benefit most from this particular tool.

How It Works and How to Get Started with Due.com

To get started, all I had to do was visit Due.com, click “Sign Up,” and then fill in basic contact information. I was then taken to my dashboard and set to go. For non-disclosure purposes I chose to use screenshots in this piece with generic and made up company names (but you get the idea). The best way to really understand the tool is to go through the basic features, or tabs, including in the tool. If you’re only interested in the review, just skip down to the next section!

The Dashboard Tab

Below is a screenshot of the empty dashboard you start out with. As you might imagine, as you add information your dashboard will change and you’ll have a full calendar and full list of Reports. Pay attention to the tabs on the left hand side of the screen—that’s where all of the action and features happen. It gives you a quick look at everything you’re working with at once (as dashboards do).

As you can hopefully see, it’s a very intuitive dashboard. You have all of your options in the left-hand side bar, you just have to click them and get started. If you want to add a client, click the “Client” tab to add, if you want to add an invoice or a recurring invoice, you can click the “Invoice” tab, and so on and so forth.

The Invoice Tab

Because this tool focuses on invoices, let’s look at the screenshot you’ll see when you click the “Invoice” tab on the left-hand side of the page:

This gives me a quick look at how many invoices are pending, paid, and the ID numbers all listed out neatly in a chart at the bottom of the page. I can also easily click to Recurring Invoices to make sure everything is set correctly. To create a new Invoice, I simply click the Blue Button on the top right-hand side of the page.

The Client Tab

This is a pretty straightforward feature that makes it easy to create an address book of your clients, both new and old, so that you can navigate to his/her contact information and find him/her easily when creating and invoice or a project. You may also notice that there is one Project associated with this client (which brings us to the next tab), but ultimately it’s nice to see everything in one place.

The Projects Tab

This tab has two different layers: Projects and Tasks. What you do is create a project and then you can add tasks to that project (almost like a subcategory of a topic). You have the ability to add a budget, client name, due date, and of course can make edits and changes at any time. This Project is associated with the client “Joe Smith,” which again, you can see above in the Client tab.

Prices: And here ends all of the free options. To unlock the other tabs you have to pay a monthly fee anywhere from $10/ month, $25/ month, or $100/ month. You can check out more of the pricing here.

Looking at the paid version and giving it a quick try, larger businesses would benefit because it opens up features like PayPal integration, Invoice Export Options, a Timeline of your Activity, and allows you to add other Staff members to your projects and activity. For smaller businesses or freelance work, like me, the free version is more than enough.

Notable Features of Due.com

A few of the features below you can only find with the paid version, so it’s up to you to decide whether or not you would benefit from some of these features. Nevertheless, Due.com does offer some cool stuff that you may just want to keep in the back of your mind if your company does end up growing:

Embed Invoices. This tool has a feature where you can embed one of their invoices (yes, they’re customizable) right onto your website so that customers never have to leave your site to pay your invoice online.

Invoice Multiple Countries & Tax Systems.com is supported in more than 100 countries and supports the majority of all tax systems. Obviously, this makes it a great option if you expect to someday have international customers.

PayPal Partnership.com has a partnership with PayPal that offers a $.50 transaction fee if paid through PayPal balance. This helps you save money on fees.

Where Due.com Could Use Some Improvements

The first thing I thought of when using this tool was the importance of sinking it to oDesk. There are also other invoicing services out there such as Zoho, Xero, eLance, and even Venmo for small projects that Due.com didn’t seem to mention. The paid version of the tool will include PayPal and QuickBooks integration, which is great, but I know that we personally use oDesk all the time and would love the ability to sync it with Due.com. For smaller businesses, having to pay to even just get PayPal integration may not be worth it.

The Verdict

I get asked to write a lot of reviews, but this was one that I really had my hopes set on as I sat down to check it out. If the tool were as good as the idea, then my life would get a whole lot easier. Fortunately for me (or anyone out there managing a lot of invoices and projects), it did not disappoint. The verdict here is a big “YES everyone should try this tool.”

Because the tool is so new it is unsurprising that there are still a few kinks to iron out and improvements to be made, but they have a solid foundation. As discussed above, the best thing about Due.com is the interface. It’s so easy to use and straightforward that it actually does make things easier, which so many tool that try to do-it-all simply just can’t master. It’s intuitive, the navigation makes sense, and it automatically tracks everything for you so you know when something is completed and what’s coming up on your calendar.

A different way to think of this tool, and something that came to my mind immediately, is to compare Due.com to Mint. Your bank always has its own dashboard that you were probably using, just like you probably use the PayPal dashboard for your invoices. However, as things start to get more complicated you need a tool that does it all while still keeping things easy. In other words, Due.com is to Mint the way PayPal is to your bank. You love PayPal, but it just won’t cut it as your work continues to grow.

Again, you can sign up to start using the tool at Due.com. Once you give it a try, let us know what you think and what you would improve in the comment section below.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/due-com-review-it-really-is-an-easy-way-to-keep-track-of-your-invoices/feed/0Twitter Mishaps: The Infamous, The Insensitive, and the Unfunnyhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/twitter-mishaps/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/twitter-mishaps/#respondFri, 31 Jul 2015 12:00:34 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31277“There is no such thing as bad publicity,” as the saying goes. However, there is such a thing as a PR nightmare. This bad dream is the type that, even after years have passed, remains in your memory like carpet stain. Try as you might scrub it out from your mind, it will always be […]

This bad dream is the type that, even after years have passed, remains in your memory like carpet stain. Try as you might scrub it out from your mind, it will always be there as a reminder of this one terrible thing that happened a long time ago.

In this post, we shall return to PR mishaps that have left an indelible mark in PR history.

Keeping up with the theme of the site, we will feature PR nightmares that took place in this strange social networking site called Twitter.

Susan Boyle’s Anal Bum Party

Britain’s Got Talent 2009 winner Susan Boyle was about to launch her latest album in 2012.

The promoters used Twitter to promote the album in an attempt to tap onto the millions of active users. Given the strength of hashtags as a way to create buzz about a topic, the logic behind this move seemed reasonable enough. After all, it was also through social media that Susan Boyle became a worldwide sensation.

However, the campaign exploded in their faces due to the use of this hashtag on all tweets from Susan’s Boyle official account: #Susanalbumparty

While the hashtag may appear to be a slight blip in the campaign, it caused a humorous uproar from users of the social media networking site.

The promoters quickly corrected the hashtag to #SusanBoylesAlbumParty, but the damage has been done. Next time, maybe it would be best for the PR team to run their hashtags with a copy editor.

American Apparel’s Insensitive Tweet

The clothing manufacturer did not have to deal with poorly composed hashtags, but they did have to deal with the ire of the public for their tasteless tweet.

Hurricane Sandy struck the US in 2012. The aftermath of damages worth over $68 million made the hurricane the second costliest natural disaster in American history. Worse, Sandy left at least 233 casualties in its path.

Given the gravity of the situation, you would imagine how businesses would grieve and mourn with families who have lost someone during the hurricane.

Not American Apparel.

Against all common sense and good taste, the brand attempted to capitalize on natural disaster as a way to make a profit. It gave people who were affected by the hurricane 20% off on all products. While the idea was noble, the execution did not communicate its intention very well.

Lots of people are taking issue with the use of “bored” in this context. The families who were struck by the disaster are not idle. Rather, they are saddened by the destruction caused by the hurricane.

With bigger problems to worry about rather than choosing which items are up for sale, I understand if they take the tweet negatively.

Aside from American Apparel, Gap tried the same shoddy tactic that AA applied on their Twitter account.

The result was just as repulsive as the tweet suggested the victims to shop online. In haste, Gap took down the tweet and offered an apology to regulate the backlash.

Dentist “Regrets” Killing African Lion for Sport, but is Being Brash About It

Hunting as a sport is a pointed topic for discussion between hunters and animal advocacies. Both stand their grounds as to why they do what they do. In the end, both agree to disagree with their points of view.

However, there is little need for hunters to flaunt their kill as a trophy especially in social media where everyone is not afraid to express their thoughts.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/31/twitter-mishaps/feed/0Standing Out from the Crowd: How to Get Your Content Noticed in the App Storehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/standing-out-from-the-crowd-how-to-get-your-content-noticed-in-the-app-store/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/standing-out-from-the-crowd-how-to-get-your-content-noticed-in-the-app-store/#respondFri, 31 Jul 2015 01:25:25 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31273It’s finally done. You’ve labored day and night on it, and have spent countless hours staring at a screen, tediously debugging and coding it. At long last, your mobile app is complete. The hard part is over, right? Sadly, you’re not out of the woods just yet. There’s still the matter of marketing it, and […]

]]>It’s finally done. You’ve labored day and night on it, and have spent countless hours staring at a screen, tediously debugging and coding it. At long last, your mobile app is complete. The hard part is over, right? Sadly, you’re not out of the woods just yet. There’s still the matter of marketing it, and specifically: making it stand out amidst a sea of competition. After all, how many people do you think will just happen to stumble across your application if you never “put it out there”, so to speak? Foremost, your app needs to stand out from the crowd.

It might seem intimidating at first, but with just a little more time and patience, all the hard work you put into developing your mobile application can pay off, big time. Let’s examine three key ways to make sure your content gets noticed, and doesn’t become yet another forgotten app in the online marketplace.

App Store Optimization

You’ve heard of SEO, but how about ASO? App store optimization is the first and most crucial step you should take when it comes time to begin the marketing phase of development. Like SEO, it involves using certain keywords and phrases to direct users to your content, but it’s not quite as simple as that. Unlike SEO, you’ll essentially be “going in blind”. Neither Google nor Apple have revealed how their search algorithms work. This means you’ll need to do most of your own research, but the task isn’t as daunting as it may sound.

Visit your app store of choice and enter some search terms. Take note of what apps pop up for those terms. Check out how the competition describes and titles their products. Try to spot key phrases they have in common. Using this information will not only help you describe your app with the appropriate keywords, it may even help you name it.

With the huge shift toward social media marketing over the last few years, it’s easy to think social media exposure is overrated. But especially in the world of mobile applications, the social aspect is bigger than ever. Social media is the only marketing platform that allows you to engage and interact with your consumers directly. The feedback they provide is not only invaluable to providing a better product—it can actually make or break your app’s success.

The “legitimacy factor” is hugely important to getting noticed. Unless you’ve already got big name recognition, like Facebook, most users will just scroll past a poorly rated or yet-to-be rated application, especially if you’re asking money for it. Those little red stars “legitimize” an app, upping a potential client’s trust that the product will work as intended.

So then, how do you get that first App Store review? It’s all about building hype. If you already have an online presence, this is fairly easy to do. Post regular updates about the product as you get closer to launch, engage directly with your audience and answer any questions they may have, and always be sure to approach it all with a light heart and sense of humor—the best way to win over a crowd is to make them laugh.

Get It Reviewed

But what if you don’t have a sizable online presence? Submitting your product to a major publication for review is an extremely prudent move. Of course, you run the risk of getting a bad one, but so long as your app functions as intended, you shouldn’t worry about this too much. What’s important is the exposure mainstream reviews bring to your product. This exposure, in turn, will translate into downloads, which translate into user reviews. That “legitimacy factor” will ultimately manifest itself into—you guessed it—more downloads and more exposure.

In summary, there’s more to creating a successful app than the design process. For your content to flourish amongst all the competition, you need to:

Optimize your title and description for the online marketplace

Engage an audience on social media

Get your app reviewed by a mainstream publication or website

Keeping these points in mind make your app stand head and shoulders above the crowd.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/standing-out-from-the-crowd-how-to-get-your-content-noticed-in-the-app-store/feed/0How to Leverage Social Media for Events to Achieve Your Goalshttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/how-to-leverage-social-media-for-events-to-achieve-your-goals/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/how-to-leverage-social-media-for-events-to-achieve-your-goals/#respondThu, 30 Jul 2015 12:30:21 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31255Reaching out to fellow bloggers, making connections, and building a network are some of the most important activities that a blogger have to focus on. That is, if you want to expand your reach and monetize your blog at some point. These activities can be done online, of course, but offline events can also bring […]

]]>Reaching out to fellow bloggers, making connections, and building a network are some of the most important activities that a blogger have to focus on. That is, if you want to expand your reach and monetize your blog at some point.

These activities can be done online, of course, but offline events can also bring you excellent results. Additionally, if you’re working as a social media manager or strategist (or some similar role) for a client, holding real-life events may be a necessary component to your overall strategy.

If this is the case, how can you optimize the impact of your events?

One way is to leverage social media for events.

It is an established fact that social media can make or break campaigns. With 2.078 billion active social media accounts, the prospects are rife. If you get your social media strategy just right and apply it to your event planning, then you will get the results you want – or even better.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/how-to-leverage-social-media-for-events-to-achieve-your-goals/feed/0Grammar-Geeking Tools for Clearer Blog Contenthttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/grammar-geeking-tools-for-clearer-blog-content/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/grammar-geeking-tools-for-clearer-blog-content/#respondThu, 30 Jul 2015 12:00:15 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31253“I like bacon, ham and egg sandwich.” “I like bacon, ham, and egg sandwich.” “I like bacon, and ham and egg sandwich.” Above are three declarative sentences that mean the same thing. Or do they? In an online world where communication is vital, never has grammar been more crucial. Content is more than just blog […]

Above are three declarative sentences that mean the same thing. Or do they?

In an online world where communication is vital, never has grammar been more crucial.

Content is more than just blog posts and articles nowadays. There are different content types ranging from videos to images so users can consume information in more than one way online.

To create a useful content, the message videographers and graphic designers are communicating in their videos and images, respectively, is clear and on point.

For the written word, the communication breakdown lies in the poor use of the English language in general.

From the sentence examples above, a misplaced comma or faulty use of the forms of speech draws the line between effective communication and miscommunication.

As bloggers and publishers, you need to ensure the correct use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, and others in your written content. This way, the message you are sharing with your audience is infallible and irrefutable.

For non-writers, it is time for you to geek out for grammar.

It does not matter if you are good at writing. If you want your blog to perform much better with your audience by communicating the right thought, then you should be sensitive enough to apply proper grammar at all times.

If you feel that you are, below is an infographic by Grammarly that profiles a self-professed “grammar nerd.”

If you fit the mold above, then great! However, you do not have to be a grammar enthusiast to observe the correct use of the English language in your writing. You can use the online tools below to make your posts tighter and clearer.

Readability-Score.com

To ensure the consistency of the tone of voice and terms used in your articles, you may need to refer to the different readability formulas. These help you determine their quantitative scores and allow you to edit the posts as you deem fit.

Readability-Score.com is your one-stop shop for calculating the readability index of your content using different formulas.

The site divided the scores into two: Reading Ease (using the Flesch-Kincaid formula) and Grade Levels, which computes the level of education best suitable to read the content.

Consider analyzing your articles using this tool first before publishing them. Doing this makes sure that the content caters to the intended audience in mind.

Grammarly

For bloggers who want to automate the editing process so they can focus on publishing more content, they need to take a good look at Grammarly Premium. This tool allows them to write articles as the tools identify the critical issues on the fly. Grammarly also has a built-in plagiarism checker and vocabulary enhancement feature so you write error- and plagiarism-free articles.

Hemingway

A free alternative to Grammarly, Hemingway is a tool that breaks down your articles on the level of sentence construction. It informs you of the confusing and hard-to-read sentences in your article for editing. It also has its Readability Scale so you can find out how easy (or difficult) your article reads.

Final thoughts

From the tools mentioned above, being a grammar nerd does not require you to become as anything else but a blogger with the intention of publishing blog content that reads well. As long as you strive to communicate your ideas effectively, you can provide content on your blog that converts!

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/30/grammar-geeking-tools-for-clearer-blog-content/feed/0Work More Blogging Jobs, Earn More with Bloggerjobs.bizhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/23/bloggerjobs-biz/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/23/bloggerjobs-biz/#respondThu, 23 Jul 2015 12:00:31 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31229As a freelance blogger, you have the luxury of taking up multiple blogging jobs to increase your monthly earnings. The challenge now is nailing your blogging applications out of the park to gain more work. There are lots of sites that feature blogging jobs where you can send your resume. However, instead of visiting different […]

]]>As a freelance blogger, you have the luxury of taking up multiple blogging jobs to increase your monthly earnings.

The challenge now is nailing your blogging applications out of the park to gain more work.

There are lots of sites that feature blogging jobs where you can send your resume. However, instead of visiting different sites to find which jobs to apply for, all you need to do now is visit Bloggerjobs.biz!

Bloggerjobs.biz is a job aggregate site that caters to freelance writers and bloggers. The job board is updated daily with the latest blogging jobs from reputable sites. Enter the job type you want to apply for and the board will return the most relevant results to you.

The jobs featured on the board are categorized into different types: freelance, full time, part time, internship, remote, and temporary. Whether you are looking for a full-time blogging job or want a job on the side to complement the earnings of your current full-time job, Bloggerjobs.biz has these jobs for you.

To view more blogging jobs, the site publishes a post daily that reveals all jobs available for that day. Every post also features the latest blogging news and freelance writing resources to help you improve your blogging skills.

You can follow Bloggerjobs.biz on Facebook and Twitter to receive the updates and helpful resources from social media.

Bloggerjobs.biz also sends out a newsletter every Fridays that shows the best blogging jobs of the week. The newsletter also features resources from different sites to guide you in your blogging journey.

To sign up for their newsletter, visit the site and wait for the opt-in form to offer. Enter your email address and submit the form to subscribe.

For RSS feed users, copy this link and paste it on your respective readers.

Finally, Bloggingjobs.biz publishes premium resources every week to further help bloggers manage their jobs and increase their chances of getting employed.

With the daily posts of blogging jobs and weekly offering of resources to turn you into a better blogger at Bloggerjobs.biz, you won’t have to worry about pinching pennies and struggling to make ends meet.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/23/bloggerjobs-biz/feed/0Unusually Useful Social Media Stats for Bloggershttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/15/social-media-stats/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/15/social-media-stats/#commentsWed, 15 Jul 2015 14:35:46 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31209While SEO continues to refer the most traffic to sites and blogs, social media is not far behind. In fact, in December 204, social media has usurped SEO as the top referring channel to websites with 31% of referral traffic coming from Facebook, Twitter, and the like. While the sample size is small, this study is […]

While the sample size is small, this study is nonetheless indicative that social media has become a marketing conduit for bloggers to help not only drive more traffic to their blogs, but also increase your conversion rate or ROI!

If you’re still stuck with your ways of optimizing your blog for search engines, maybe it’s time to change with the times by including social media as part of your marketing agenda. To help guide you which tools to use or focus on for this channel, the social media statistics featured below should give you a better understanding on the kind of marketing strategy to prepare for.

1. 47% say Facebook has the greatest impact on purchase behavior (compared to just 24% in 2011).

If you are selling your products and services in your blog, then it’s best to launch a Facebook campaign promoting your content to your target audience to hike up your ROI. This can be done by setting up a Facebook Page of your blog where you can build a community and interact with them through the content your post. To help you get this done, read this post at Meltwater that covers the basics.

To further increase your reach, you can try you hand with the Boost Post and Promote Post features on Facebook. Both are paid, so you have to be wary which among the two you should use. To understand how both works, read this informative post at Social Media Examiner.

2. WhatsApp has 600 million users.

Private messengers has come back with the vengeance on mobile devices. WhatsApp is one of the most popular ones and has the most users (outside China).

Make your content much easier to share in this popular app by having a visible the WhatsApp social share button on your blog. For WordPress users, Jetpack has launched a WhatsApp Sharing Button that you can place on the pages of your blog along with other social media buttons. The button will be very helpful for desktop users who may want to share your content on their personal groups or contacts.

Another way of using this app to nurture your influence and trust as a blogger is to use WhatsApp to promote your latest content, just like how an email newsletter works. To get a better idea on how to get this done, refer to this post by Vivek Kuriyal at LinkedIn

4. Images and photos are the most important tactic in optimizing social media posts.

Visual content has been playing a more important role in getting shared in social media. Given that it’s much easier to process information from images and photos instead of text, it will be to your advantage to learn how to create simple images that accompany your posts. Online image editors such as Canva and Picmonkey are obvious choices to help you design and edit stellar blog post images using their drag and drop feature.

By creating these, you can share your posts not only on Twitter or Facebook, but also on image sharing sites like Pinterest and Instagram, to name a few! To get started, here’s a simple yet effective guide in designing images for non-designers.

Additional tips: If social media is way over your head, or if you cannot commit to the suggestions above, you can always ask help from a professional. Post the job description in this social media jobs board and expect more than able social media marketers to vie for the position.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/15/social-media-stats/feed/3Become an Exceptional Writer with Udemy’s “Writing with Flair” Course [FREEBIE ALERT]http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/2015/07/free-writing-course-udemy-writing-with-flair-course/
http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/2015/07/free-writing-course-udemy-writing-with-flair-course/#respondWed, 15 Jul 2015 12:05:38 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31212“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” ― Albert Einstein We’re still alive, aren’t we? We continue to look for new clients and work with existing clients. Shouldn’t we then apply Einstein’s words to our professional lives? Shouldn’t we find ways to continue growing professionally? The reason I’m writing about this […]

]]>“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
― Albert Einstein

We’re still alive, aren’t we? We continue to look for new clients and work with existing clients.

Shouldn’t we then apply Einstein’s words to our professional lives? Shouldn’t we find ways to continue growing professionally?

The reason I’m writing about this topic is that I have always been a firm believer in keeping up with new ideas and trends in my line of work. This is particularly important for online writers as the landscape of freelance writing, blogging, and content marketing is in a constant state of flux. If you stand still by not expanding your knowledge, you’ll find yourself being left behind.

Ways to continuously improve as a writer

One of the best and easiest ways to keep up with the times is to read – blogs of other writers, books, news, and other material that will aid you in learning more about writing and other online jobs you may have.

Another way – and perhaps more effective – is to take courses that teach you skills and ideas beyond what you already know. There are a lot of online educational providers today, some free, some for a fee.

I know that not everyone has the money to spend on expensive courses, but guess what? We have a treat for you.

Udemy

The guys a Udemy got in touch with us about a “free writing course” they are currently offering.

If you’re not familiar with Udemy, it is one of the biggest providers of online courses. Their courses range from app development to search engine optimization to job search to writing. Some of their courses are free, but they also have paid courses.

One of their current offerings on writing is “Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer”. It focuses on tightening your writing style while at the same time honing your skills to take your writing to the next level.

My experience

Michael Blau from Udemy generously gave me a code to take the course, which is priced at $299 (now don’t stop reading yet), and while I haven’t finished it, based on the outline and the sections I’ve gone through, I can honestly say that I will walk away a better writer when I am done.

To give you a sneak peek, the course introduces you to the “world elite writing” – not the usual articles/web content you see online – and the “secret sauce of flair” (while at the same time cutting out the unnecessary).

The good stuff

When you saw the price of the course in the previous section, you might have ditched the idea of taking it – and understandably so. The $300 price tag is not easy to swallow, and even if I keep on repeating how good the course is, some of you may just not want to spend that money.

I’ve got good news for you, though. Michael was generous in giving me a code to take the course, but he has gone the extra mile by giving a code for our readers, essentially making “Writing with Flair: How to Become an Exceptional Writer” a free writing course!

]]>http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/2015/07/free-writing-course-udemy-writing-with-flair-course/feed/0Seven Ways Of Avoiding Summer Brain Drain At Workhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/10/seven-ways-of-avoiding-summer-brain-drain-at-work/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/10/seven-ways-of-avoiding-summer-brain-drain-at-work/#respondFri, 10 Jul 2015 09:32:31 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31197And so it is. Summer in the city. People are trying to convince you that it’s really hot outside, and you can kind of deduce that while admiring bald, sweaty heads and legs in shorts as people stroll on the street right next to your glass-walled office. Half of your team are on holiday, conquering Facebook […]

People are trying to convince you that it’s really hot outside, and you can kind of deduce that while admiring bald, sweaty heads and legs in shorts as people stroll on the street right next to your glass-walled office. Half of your team are on holiday, conquering Facebook with pictures of beaches and sunsets by the sea, while the other half are in the process of packing and expanding their collection of bikinis and swimsuits.

To cut a long story short, it’s not that easy to focus on work during these summer days. That’s why we’re bringing you seven supreme ways of boosting your productivity when the heat is on. Not tested on animals, only on office humans.

Plan your work

Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing better to do than compose a list of your all-time-favourite YouTube cat videos, while in another second you are genuinely surprised by the amount of work that’s rolling in on you like a ruthless blizzard.

The perfect way to avoid this snowball effect is to plan your work in advance. Maybe it’s hard to believe, but apparently that’s what all great people do.

Make this painful process of scheduling easier and use the Trello app. It’s free and can be used individually but also within a team. This way you can plan your work and be more focused on the priorities, especially since the app helps you decide on your next area of focus.

Pimp your office

How can you tell that you have just entered a typical office? Do you see men wearing suits, no matter what season, and there is no natural light? And is the main sound that of people crunching on lunch boxes, mixed with the monotonous hum of air conditioning? Welcome to the world of the middle class. The fight is not over yet, so you should put this boredom to an end!

Having a friendly, stimulating office environment is an amazing way of boosting your productivity, because it makes you feel comfortable but at the same time more focused.

It’s helpful to have the space divided into specific sectors where you can deeply concentrate on your tasks or just lie back and chill.

You can always go even further and follow the creative steps of hot FinTech startup TransferGo, which has a proper office swing, right next to the upside-down plans. (We’re talking about shaking things up, right?)

Leave your office!

It’s scientifically proven that being out among nature not only helps you relax, but also stimulates the activity of your brain. In general, there are two basic types of attention: direct and voluntary. The former is the one used in particular at work, while the latter is the way we respond spontaneously to the pleasant sound of a flowing river or singing bird.

The thing is, direct attention is not bottomless. It has its limits, which are mainly associated with feeling burnt out and exhausted. (Sounds familiar?)

So take advantage of the beautiful summer weather and go and work in the wild (or at least in a garden). You will be more productive and complete all your work assignments much faster and with better results.

Alternatively, you can always go to your business meetings on foot instead of driving. Motion stimulates ideas.

Exploit the 20/80 rule

The well-known Pareto rule says that on average it takes about 20 per cent of the total time spent to obtain 80 per cent of the results. This law applies to many different areas of life, not only to our careers.

With regard to work, the 20/80 rule suggests you focus on the least important tasks when you are also the least effective. Consequently, when you are super focused and productive (in the early morning, after your second coffee, or in the middle of the night), you should tackle the most difficult problems.

Also, you can mix the Pareto rule with the Pomodoro technique, which is breaking down the total amount of work into intervals of 25 minutes so you could focus on one task completely.

The Mozart effect

Do you know that music can make you cooler? And not only cooler in a being-less-hot way. The right soundtrack, especially of classical music, is able to maximise your learning and concentration skills. It’s known as the Mozart effect. It’s been proven that being exposed to the music of the Austrian genius can noticeably improve the performance of certain kinds of mental task.

Why is that? According to experiments conducted by researchers from the University of California, the processing of music shares some of the pathways in the brain with memory. That’s why it’s so profitable to listen to Mozart, especially during tasks that involve a great deal of thinking and remembering.

So if you want to refresh your brain on a summer afternoon at work and also stimulate it, play The Magic Flute and let your enhanced mind conquer the world!

Be ambitious yet realistic

Achieving your goals is not only about dedication. It’s also – yeah, you guessed it – about planning. It’s great to think big and shoot for the stars, but at the same time you have to be at least a little bit down to earth. There are different kinds of goals – one can be achieved in one week; another will take more than one month. This diversity of goals and their different levels of difficulty is essential, as bigger ambitions make you enjoy the fulfilment more.

It’s also proven that people who are successful in reaching their goals usually write them down.

Stop multitasking

The myth of multitasking was alive and kicking for a pretty long time. Checking e-mails while chatting on the phone and planning a schedule for the entire week ahead looks like the way many of us deal with everyday responsibilities.

But what scientific explanation is there for this common urge not to waste a split second of the day?

Maybe you haven’t noticed yet, but multitasking feels really good; it brings fulfilment. That’s because, on a biochemical level, it leads to the release of dopamine, which is one of the hormones responsible for our happiness. Each time our attention is captured by a new tweet or a push notification, we biologically reward ourselves for getting so many things done at once. And, obviously, we get easily distracted.

In the bigger picture, multitasking makes us stressed out, because the process triggers the release of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Research clearly suggests that multitasking lowers your productivity. So it’s high time to forget about it and focus on one thing only!

Do you think that marijuana can slow us down? It seems that multitasking can be not only less amusing than smoking weed, but also more harmful.

Now the summer spent at the office in a breeze of air conditioning doesn’t feel that terrifying, does it? And what are you favourite ways of dealing with summertime sadness at work? Share your thoughts!

Dominika Chmiel is Communications and Community Manager at TransferGo, a fintech start-up based at Level39 in Canary Wharf, London. With 5 years experience in advertising on both sides of the Channel Tunnel, after completing her MA in Creative Writing currently she’s working on her first novel.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/10/seven-ways-of-avoiding-summer-brain-drain-at-work/feed/0Best Writing Tips for Beginning Bloggershttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/09/best-writing-tips-for-beginning-bloggers/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/09/best-writing-tips-for-beginning-bloggers/#respondThu, 09 Jul 2015 14:00:40 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31188You want to blog, but you’ve never written anything for public consumption before – unless you count that essay in high school, which you were required to read in front of the class. But, you really want to blog, become good at it, and perhaps even work for network or expand your career to being […]

]]>You want to blog, but you’ve never written anything for public consumption before – unless you count that essay in high school, which you were required to read in front of the class. But, you really want to blog, become good at it, and perhaps even work for network or expand your career to being an online content marketer, or a social media specialist.

Don’t worry. Everyone has to start somewhere. Even if you don’t consider your writing skills up to par, there are things you can do to take that first step.

Here are the best writing tips for beginning bloggers that will point you in the right direction.

Keep it short.

Researchers have been studying the attention span of online readers for years, and the consensus is that the average attention span is five minutes. While there are still exceptions – people who prefer long-form articles – you cannot ignore the majority of readers.

Pro tip: Write your blog post without stressing over how short (or long) your sentences and paragraphs are. Once you’re done, edit. That’s when you cut out unnecessary words, repetitive statements, and details that do not contribute to the strength of your article.

Keep it simple.

Don’t use “big” words to impress. Readers don’t want to have to check the dictionary every time! It’s not that you’re dumbing down your audience, but make it easy for them to understand what you want to say. Impress with your ideas, not with words that you can barely pronounce.

Pro tip: Avoid jargon and sophisticated words. If your high school brother can’t understand what you’re saying, then you need to use simpler words.

Keep it personal.

Imagine you’re talking to the reader face-to-face. If you’re not comfortable with that in real life, that’s fine. You’re writing anyway!

Use first person pronouns: I, we, you, and us.

This makes your readers more comfortable and keeps them reading.

Keep it real.

Do you notice how I add “pro tip” in most sections? That’s keeping it real in such a way that I provide examples so that you know what to do when you start writing.

It’s easy to write about ideas, but that’s just what they are: ideas. Giving examples makes your ideas applicable in the real world.

Pro tip: Draw examples from your own experiences. If you feel that you don’t have enough experience, ask! Use Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. to ask more experienced people for guidance.

Keep reading.

As a beginning blogger, you need to learn from others. The best way to do this is to read, read, and read. Then read more.

Follow experienced bloggers in your niche, and regularly read their articles. Even better, browse their archives for more articles that you can learn from. By doing this, you pick up tips on blogging and you also learn from their writing style.

You might feel overwhelmed by the idea of starting a blog and writing posts that anyone can read – including your high school teacher – but follow the tips above, keep writing, and you’ll eventually feel more confident.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/09/best-writing-tips-for-beginning-bloggers/feed/0Integrating LinkedIn Long-Form Posts in Your Blogging Strategyhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/08/linkedin-long-form-posts/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/08/linkedin-long-form-posts/#commentsWed, 08 Jul 2015 12:00:29 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31180In 2012, LinkedIn launched Influencers, a publishing platform for users to share their knowledge about their field of expertise. It paved way for people like Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, and Guy Kawasaki, among countless others, to build a readership from this social networking site through the content they create. Originally, aside from people established in […]

]]>In 2012, LinkedIn launched Influencers, a publishing platform for users to share their knowledge about their field of expertise. It paved way for people like Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, and Guy Kawasaki, among countless others, to build a readership from this social networking site through the content they create.

Originally, aside from people established in their respective industries, Influencers handpicked other regular users to publish content and build their personal branding through this platform. While it is no longer accepting applications to their Influencers , however, LinkedIn has allowed all members the opportunity to write long-form posts.

While it doesn’t bear the same weight as Influencers, you as a blogger can still find use to the LinkedIn long-form posts feature, especially if you have a blog. Below are ways on how you can do it.

Elaborate a point on your blog post

If there’s a topic or issue that you weren’t able to flesh out completely in your blog post, you can take that and turn it into a long-form post at LinkedIn. In fact, look back at other posts you’ve posted in different publications over the years and take out the points that you felt you could have explained further. Use these as talking points to your upcoming long-form posts so you can develop and publish posts in LinkedIn on a consistent basis.

To help drive traffic to your blog posts, link back to those where you took the point that was blown into a long-form post so readers can click on it for more information.

Doing this allows you to include your LinkedIn long-form posts into your sales funnel, should you apply an inbound approach to your blogging strategy. Since the purpose your blog in this approach is to attract and convert visitors, you need to determine which part of the sales funnel your LinkedIn long-form posts fall under. To provide you will a visual guide for this, refer to the infographic below at Broke Bloke Blogs.

Share your professional experience

Since LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals, it is only appropriate that you write long-form posts about your experiences with your job. Share just the right amount of information that won’t get you into trouble but be descriptive with the information you’re sharing as much as possible.

While this has nothing to do with your blog, this plays an important role in building your personal brand, which can indirectly affect your blog traffic. As you publish this content type of LinkedIn, you are able to build trust and influence with your readers because you ground your posts with real-life experiences in the industry and not just cookie-cutter articles prevalent in the web.

As a result, this can lead them to check out your profile and visit your blog, assuming that you share and promote your latest posts in your profile.

Additional tips

Observe the best practices of writing your blog content by following this guide over at Blogger Sidekick. This post details the step-by-step process of developing your blog content, from coming up with a topic idea to writing SEO-conscious content. Highly recommended reading for bloggers who wish to improve their processes of writing and publishing content.

Promoting your long-form posts on LinkedIn will be easier since it will be shared within your personal network. Also you can join different Linkedin Groups related to your expertise so you not only can share your posts there, but also engage with like-minded professionals. Of course, observing the best social media marketing practices is a plus.

Final thoughts: With a built-in network where you can easily share your content to, as well as a clean publishing platform, LinkedIn long-form posts should be a welcome addition to your blogging strategy that will help achieve your blogging goals, whether it’s increasing its traffic or converting visitors into leads or customers.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/08/linkedin-long-form-posts/feed/1A Quick Guide on Beefing Up Your WordPress Securityhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/01/wordpress-security/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/01/wordpress-security/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 12:00:27 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31168WordPress is one of the best CMS platforms for users to build their websites on. It has an intuitive interface with easy-to-use features to help them develop the best-looking site or blog possible. This is one of the many reasons why WordPress has more than 75 million users worldwide. Due to its popularity, WordPress is also prone to […]

]]>WordPress is one of the best CMS platforms for users to build their websites on. It has an intuitive interface with easy-to-use features to help them develop the best-looking site or blog possible. This is one of the many reasons why WordPress has more than 75 million users worldwide.

There’s a slim chance that your site or blog will be hacked anytime soon, unless it’s one of the most popular ones out there, in which case it has 33% chance of contracting malware. However, if you’re really serious about making a living with your site or blog, then you need to take these threats seriously as well.

Below are tips on how you can beef up your WordPress security to safeguard your site or blog from possible attacks.

Purchase secure hosting from the start

There’s a tendency for website owners to purchase shared hosting for their site or blog to cut on costs. You can’t argue with the logic behind this decision: since they’ll still building the website’s content and digital assets, it’s only smart to run on bare essentials until they are able to develop the site and drive sizable amount of traffic. Only then will they plan to transition to more secure hosting services like cloud or dedicated hosting once they’ve gained profit from their sites to offset the costs.

However, if you have cash to spare for WordPress security and protection, in addition to faster loading speed and better site performance, why not secure this service now for the sake of your site? Using a secure hosting service protects you from different types of online attacks such as DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) and others.

Strengthen your password

To make sure that hackers won’t break into your website using your login credentials, you need to make sure that your password is “strong.” This can be done by mixing small and upper case letters, symbols, and numbers as your password to make it difficult for hackers to crack your account. However, the best approach to coming up with a password that’s hard to crack is by making it as random as possible. Using a random generator that will create a string of characters that you can use for your password is one way of doing this.

Use security plugins

WordPress is known for its amazing host of plugins to help supercharge your site or blog, including plugins that help ensure its security and privacy from people without any login details. Below are some of the best plugins that help boost your site’s protection from attacks:

Wordfence Security – this free enterprise plugins performs a deep-server side scan of your site or blog’s plugins, themes, and file for malware and infected files. By identifying the bad files in your site’s backend, you can quarantine or remove the files to minimize (if not eliminate) security risks. There are other security plugins that you may want to try out if you’re not comfortable with Wordfence.

Login Security Solution – Strengthen your login page by downloading and activating this plugin. It lets you track down IP addresses of its visitors, logs out users accounts that have been compromised, and slows down response times for users who have incurred multiple login failures to discourage spammers and hackers from infiltrating your dashboard, to name a few of its features.

UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration – Create a backup of your backend files and save them online using your preferred cloud storage service (Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, etc.). You can schedule either a one-time or recurring backup so you can restore your website even if its goes down due to unfortunate circumstances.

Final thoughts:Make sure that your WordPress security is in tip-top shape by following the tips featured above. There are services not featured above that will increase your protection, but the ones listed in this posts should help you establish a solid protection for your WordPress site.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/07/01/wordpress-security/feed/410 Proven Ways to Destroy Writer’s Blockhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/26/10-proven-ways-to-destroy-writers-block/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/26/10-proven-ways-to-destroy-writers-block/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 15:30:20 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31163“’Writer’s block’ is just a fancy way of saying ‘I don’t feel like doing any work today.’” – Meagan Spooner That’s just one of the many things that writers have said about writer’s block. It’s not real. It’s all in the head. I don’t know about you, though, but there really are times when I […]

]]>“’Writer’s block’ is just a fancy way of saying ‘I don’t feel like doing any work today.’” – Meagan Spooner

That’s just one of the many things that writers have said about writer’s block. It’s not real. It’s all in the head.

I don’t know about you, though, but there really are times when I feel like I have nothing. The ideas just won’t come, and even if I have a running list of topics, sometimes, the words just don’t make sense at all either. When all that comes out seems to be rubbish.

Even if other writers say there is no such thing, the chances are that you have had an encounter – or two – with writer’s block yourself. If that is that case, then this infographic will help you crush that block.

The visual was created by Now Novel, and it highlights 10 ways to destroy writer’s block.

While there are many suggestions online on how to do this, I think that this graphic provides ‘easy’ actionable tips that will get you through a tough writing period.

Here are the 10 tips, but go through the infographic so you can read the insights for each tip.

I think I have done most of those things at least once when tackling writer’s block (especially writing badly!), but the ‘writing date’ is something new to me. I guess it’s because I like to be alone when writing.

What about you? Which tip do you think will help you destroy writer’s block best?

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/26/10-proven-ways-to-destroy-writers-block/feed/13 Chrome Blogging Extensions to Watch Out for 2015http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/3-chrome-blogging-extensions-to-watch-out-for-2015/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/3-chrome-blogging-extensions-to-watch-out-for-2015/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 00:58:35 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31155Blogging has come a long way since the days when it was utilized primarily as a tool for enabling individuals to discuss topics of interest. These days, any business that is not blogging is leaving a lot of potential customers out of the loop. In fact, blogging is now one of the most effective inbound […]

]]>Blogging has come a long way since the days when it was utilized primarily as a tool for enabling individuals to discuss topics of interest. These days, any business that is not blogging is leaving a lot of potential customers out of the loop. In fact, blogging is now one of the most effective inbound marketing tools available. The best part is that maintaining a blog is free for companies that have a skilled writer on staff. Even those businesses that have to outsource this essential need can typically find what they need for a relatively inexpensive price from online content writers.

As of 2009, businesses with a blog were already increasing their website visits by 55 percent, and this number has gone up with time. For this single reason alone, companies need to launch and maintain a strong blogging effort that is part of their online marketing strategy. It is best to create a content calendar so that you publish regularly, and you can also take advantage of numerous browser blogging extensions to make the process as easy as possible. Because Google Chrome is the browser of choice for 64.9 percent of Internet users, we will take a close look at three of the blogging extensions that you should be using for Chrome to get the most out of each post.

1. Evernote Web Clipper

One of the most difficult aspects of committing to regular postings is finding enough content to keep your blog relevant and interesting to readers. With Evernote Web Clipper, you can easily clip any information you find online and save it for future access. This will make it much more simplistic to keep your blogging ideas and inspiration in one place. To make things even better, this handy extension will also work on your tablet and smartphone. Additionally, Evernote is compatible with WordPress and several other browsers.

2. WP Write

If you use WordPress and do not want to visit their interface each time you write or publish a blog post, then the WP Write Chrome extension is right up your alley. This extension makes it simple to write and format your posts from within your browser without even needing to be online. You can also push the posts from the extension directly into the published WordPress format. The thing that really makes WP Write stand out is the fact that it is much quicker and easier than going to the WordPress site, so this is a great option for people with limited time.

3. Google URL Shortener

Attaching a long hyperlink to anchor test is usually undesirable, but making a special trip to a site that provides you with a shortened URL is not a good usage of your time. Fortunately, you can now turn to the Google URL Shortener extension to hover over any link and instantly get access to a shortened version. This is a useful plugin tool that will make the links in each of your blogs more user-friendly without requiring you to take a lot of extra steps. This extension is compatible with Evernote Web Clipper and a wide variety of other platforms, including Facebook and Gmail.

Unfortunately, none of these extensions have been created with Joomla or Wix in mind, and they also will not do you much good if you have a poor website design in place. After all, the design of your website and blog will have a major impact on the number of people who visit your site more than once. WebsiteBuilder.com templates can help you avoid this issue because they provide businesses and individuals with access to 10,000 different designs. Keep in mind that you can integrate WordPress and many other blogging platforms into most website designs, either through a plugin or by hosting both aspects of your online presence in the same spot. As an added bonus, the three previously mentioned Chrome extensions will all make the process quicker and more seamless.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/3-chrome-blogging-extensions-to-watch-out-for-2015/feed/1Cloud-Based Tools to Stake Your Business Blog onhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/cloud-based-tools/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/cloud-based-tools/#respondThu, 25 Jun 2015 12:50:19 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31144Businesses that run on the cloud understand the benefits of working remote. Owners don’t have infrastructure, office space, and equipment associated with a business in the strictest sense. But cloud-based tools will help them run their company instead without compromising their performance. Doing this lets them operate their business in its bare essentials so they can maximize their earnings. The […]

]]>Businesses that run on the cloud understand the benefits of working remote. Owners don’t have infrastructure, office space, and equipment associated with a business in the strictest sense. But cloud-based tools will help them run their company instead without compromising their performance. Doing this lets them operate their business in its bare essentials so they can maximize their earnings.

The same principles apply to running a business blog. This online activity has been elevated to a marketing tactic due to its ability to reach out to your target audience with ideas shared in your posts. It is also possible to monetize your blog by applying the best practices so you don’t have to work a job at an office.

To get to this stage in your career as a business blogger, you need to hire people who will help realize your dreams for you. You don’t have to make sure your team goes to an office so you can monitor their progress. Managing writers, designers, programmers, and developers to run your multiple blogs will be difficult, but not impossible thanks to these cloud-based tools.

Time-tracking tool: Toggl

There are cloud-based time tracking tools that lets your team clock in the time just like they would in an office despite working from a distance. One of these tools is Togglr, a free time tracking online tool that lets them enter the times they’ve worked and the tasks they’ve accomplished during the day.

Once your team members have entered their hours, they can send you a visual report of the tasks they’ve finished during the day, week, or month. They can record their time by visiting the site from your browser or you can download the desktop and mobile app to log in their work hours.

While the app is free for use, it can only accommodate five team members. Purchasing the Pro or Business plan will let you include unlimited members who can record time and send you regular reports, aside from other features.

Project management tool: Asana

Who’s supposed to write a post to be published later this afternoon? When should the blog redesign be finished? Where are the updated files of the brief provided by the client?

These are some of the questions you’ll be asking yourself without a project management system in place. Asana is a free tool that will help organize your projects, tasks, and members to keep your blogging business running in tip-top shape.

You can create projects and place actionable tasks to be assigned to specific members in your team. You can describe the brief of the tasks at hand and place a deadline on each so team members are aware of what needs to be prioritized. Other features include create visual milestones, receive updates straight to your inbox, and third-part integration, and more.

Online meeting tool: ClickMeeting

Sometimes, you’ll need to gather your team at the same time to discuss plans you have in store with your blog. You will also need to receive updates about the tasks assigned to each on your project management tool. Taking the option of online chat, while free and cost-effective, will take time to finish since typing your message is neither the fastest nor the most efficient way of communication.

For a more dynamic approach, you should go with holding online meetings using ClickMeeting. You can conduct an audio and video conference (if not both) with your team so you can discuss your blogging plans like you would a face-to-face meeting. You can also hold a moderated Q&A session so you can filter out questions from team members to discuss in the public chat. If you have prepared a presentation or want to show whatever’s appearing on your screen, you can enable the full desktop sharing and control to engage your team.

Other features include the ability to record your meetings, meeting room rebranding, and more.

Final thoughts: The cloud-based tools featured above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to running your business blog. There are even collaboration tools to help you build a community with your blog. Nonetheless, these should help run your blog efficiently while making the most out of your earnings.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/25/cloud-based-tools/feed/03 Easy Ways to Be a More Prolific Bloggerhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/19/write-more-blog-posts/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/19/write-more-blog-posts/#respondFri, 19 Jun 2015 12:00:00 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31139Prolific. There goes that word again. Does a blogger need to be prolific? The answer is yes. That is, if you want to keep offering your readers something new to consume and keep Google happy (it loves regular, new content). It’s easy to give tips on how to be a consistent blogger and write regularly. Ideas […]

The answer is yes. That is, if you want to keep offering your readers something new to consume and keep Google happy (it loves regular, new content).

It’s easy to give tips on how to be a consistent blogger and write regularly. Ideas come up a lot, but putting them on paper – or on your screen – regularly can be a different story.

The good news is that you can make some easy changes in your life to help you write more blog posts – and great ones at that. The ideas below may not seem to be directly related to blogging, but try them out and see if they work for you.

Take care of yourself.

You may think that you take care of yourself, but take a look at these questions.

How many hours do you sleep?

How regularly do you eat?

What do you eat?

Are you able to keep a schedule so that you don’t stress out when the deadline comes around? (Specially targeted at bloggers who write for clients)

When was the last time you went out, or on a vacation, without working or thinking of work all the time? For that matter, when was the last time you took a real vacation?

Analyze your answers to these questions, and you may realize that you are not taking care of yourself as much as you think.

It’s important that your body and mind are healthy and in sync. If you get this right, then you’ll be in a better state to write more blog posts.

Endorphins, baby!

It’s boring and unappealing to say ‘exercise’, so just think of endorphins, which are produced by physical activity. These endorphins give you some sort of ‘high’, so you end up feeling great, which leads to being a more productive blogger.

So, instead of thinking exercise, think of feeling high. Exercise doesn’t even mean having to kill yourself during a CrossFit session. Just go to the store and walk instead of taking your car. Take a stroll at the park. Go for a nice swim to cool down. Not only will you enjoy yourself, you’ll get that ‘let’s go’ feeling once you sit down to write.

Socialize.

Meh. Who needs face-to-face meetings when all your friends are on the Internet? I totally agree with you, believe me.

Still, depending on how much you need live social interaction, you should do it once in a while. I am okay with once a month, even once every two months, but others may need it more often.

Whatever the case may be, socializing is like a breath of fresh air and takes the burden of ‘having to’ write more blog posts regularly.

Do you feel pressured in your blogging? Are you doing the things above? What other things can you do to help you feel better and write more blog posts that are worth reading?

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/19/write-more-blog-posts/feed/0Web 3.0 Is Just Around the Cornerhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/16/web-3-0-is-just-around-the-corner/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/16/web-3-0-is-just-around-the-corner/#commentsWed, 17 Jun 2015 01:36:36 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31133The internet is evolving all of the time. Where we once had single web pages with just a bit of text on them has now grown into large, multifunctional sites that can contain thousands of pages. But where are we heading next? What will the future of the web look like? And how will it […]

]]>The internet is evolving all of the time. Where we once had single web pages with just a bit of text on them has now grown into large, multifunctional sites that can contain thousands of pages. But where are we heading next? What will the future of the web look like? And how will it impact how we conduct business online?

Most of the websites that you see today are considered Web 2.0 sites. They are sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia, and Pinterest. Web 2.0 is defined as “the second stage of development of the World Wide Web, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media.” These sites are complex, and offer the visitors a wide range of functions. Some sites do not even need to come up with content themselves, instead letting their users compile it, and in some cases, make money from it. For example, Sqeeqee.com’s Social Networthing is one such example of letting users generate profit in a new way. It wasn’t that long ago that making money on the internet seemed like a pipe dream. Now thanks to Web 2.0 sites like this one, it is much more achievable.

The more simple sites of the past, those with just some text on them, were considered the first generation of the web. This second generation has been around for a while now, and most sites that are developed today fit into this classification. However, just as we saw a shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, we will eventually start to see the makings of Web 3.0.

So what exactly is Web 3.0? That is hard to say. It took over 10 years for us to transition from the original web to Web 2.0, and to this day it is hard to exactly define what Web 2.0 is. Web 3.0 may come about from a change in technology, from a change in the way we interact with our devices, or from a change in how the internet is run. Some speculate that the use of artificial intelligence may be the next big breakthrough that leads to Web 3.0. For example, using social bookmarking as a search engine. Rather than using a site like Google to search, you would be getting results based on what users have rated. This factors in human intelligence into the search results, giving you a better outcome. The downside of this example is that results can be manipulated. Just as we saw the Search Engine Optimization, in an effort to get your website to rank higher, we will most likely see practices evolve to help you rank higher on these new sites as well.

As we said, this is just one example. It is hard to know what Web 3.0 will consist of until it arrives. Web 2.0 was only named after it had been established, and then we just needed something to call it. This will most likely happen with Web 3.0 as well. We will have a large amount of sites that are behaving differently than those we saw in the past, and we will need to place a label on it. One thing is for sure however. With the rate of growth in the fields of technology, Web 3.0 is not too far off. It is only a matter of time before we make another leap and start using the web in ways we had never imagined.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/16/web-3-0-is-just-around-the-corner/feed/1Three Things a Blogger Can Learn From Christopher Leehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/12/christopher-lee-blogging-life-lessons/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/12/christopher-lee-blogging-life-lessons/#respondFri, 12 Jun 2015 12:00:55 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31122The death of veteran actor (among others) Christopher Lee has been the talk of the town in the last 12 hours or so. The legend has touched so many lives that his passing has not gone unnoticed – quite the opposite in fact. But what has that got to do with us writers and bloggers? […]

But what has that got to do with us writers and bloggers? Sure, we could cover the news, but that’s just adding to the echo chamber. Worse, it’s bandwagoning. Everyone knows he’s gone, and we’re all feeling bad about it.

Everyone is paying tribute to Sir Christopher Lee. While we’re not making light of all the coverage – that’s practically all I’ve been reading in the past hours or so – I think there’s another angle here that bloggers can learn from.

The actor has lived a full life – something not a lot of people can say – and there is a lot we can learn from that. And, as it usually is when somebody dies, you get into that thinking mood.

With Sir Christopher Lee’s passing, I thought about how he lived his life, what he did, what he became known for, and how we can learn from all this. Mind you, these learning points don’t apply to bloggers alone, but to life in general.

Being a villain isn’t necessarily bad.

I’m using the word ‘villain’ rather loosely here. Perhaps devil’s advocate is a closer term, but Christopher Lee is known as one of the greatest villains in the world of cinema. He has played so many villainous roles that, if one doesn’t see beyond that, one would think he’s the same in real life. So I use the term villain for this point.

Translated into the blogging world, playing the devil’s advocate is not something to shy away from. In fact, many probloggers have given the advise that being controversial and playing the villain will get people thinking. You’ll have haters, but as long as you’re not doing it for pure spite or attention or traffic, then is that a bad thing? Is it unethical to be a ‘villain blogger’ if you truly believe in what you write about?

Be kind.

Sir Christopher Lee may be recognized as the villain, but in real life, he is one of the kindest, most considerate people there are. He’s not the prima donna that many an actor (of lesser caliber, if I might say so) is these days.

“It means a lot to me,” he says, “because it is a pat on the back from the profession. I shall probably have tears on the night of the ceremony. I’m much softer than people think. I don’t present to the world an emotional face. I’m pretty good at self-control, but I am easily moved.”

Okay, so that’s him talking about himself, but other people validate this man’s character.

However controversial you may be online, always be kind. There is no excuse for rudeness. Whether you’re having a social media discussion with an influencer or some “nobody”, always be courteous.

At the end of your life, wouldn’t you want others to say that you were a kind person?

It’s okay to break the mold.

Christopher Lee was an actor. He was an author. He was a British commando. He was a singer.

He could have stayed an actor, with all the accolades he received. He could have been content with adding ‘author’ to his bio.

But no. In his golden years, he delighted us with his heavy metal career. Did you know that he released in first metal album when was in his 90? And he kept at it till the very end!

Who would have thought that this man would break the mold in this manner?

Rolling Stone just published an article which reveals just how out of the box Christopher Lee is. It’s almost as if there was no box for him – he just did what he wanted and got what he wanted out of life.

As writers/bloggers, we can only follow so much of the advice that’s thrown out there. Always remember though, that you have your own brain. Only you know what you really want. Why let formulas and proven strategies box you in?

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/12/christopher-lee-blogging-life-lessons/feed/0Controlling What You Can’t Control: Your Reputation Onlinehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/11/controlling-what-you-cant-control-your-reputation-online/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/11/controlling-what-you-cant-control-your-reputation-online/#respondFri, 12 Jun 2015 01:39:19 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31116It used to be that you could draw a firm line between who you were and who you appeared to be to others. The internet changed all that. While it’s still possible to keep some things to yourself, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to appear to be anything but what you are. Social media, hacking, and […]

]]>It used to be that you could draw a firm line between who you were and who you appeared to be to others. The internet changed all that. While it’s still possible to keep some things to yourself, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to appear to be anything but what you are. Social media, hacking, and miraculous leaps from simple web searches make us very accessible to others. If you live a “public” life on the internet, one in which you enjoy a certain amount of attention from others, you can be sure that people know a lot about you, or at least think they know a lot about you.

The say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. But when you are an internet personality, you may make thousands of first impressions a day, with an ever-growing audience base This is where a reputation management service, such as Repumatic, can be the difference between making and breaking your reputation online.

If your audience exceeds even a few hundred, you can be sure that you won’t have time to manage each one of these individuals’ attitude about you and what you do. So how do companies like this work? And what can they really offer you in the way of reputation management?

One of the basic things that a service like Repumatic will do is give you and your brand a specific branding site. A branding site is one of dozens or hundreds of niche-specific sites that profile individuals and their brands. It helps you select exactly the sort of words, phrases, and concepts you want associated around your brand. And it makes these the easiest to find online, ensuring that they pop up on Google when people search your name or about other things related to you and what you do. It makes you very discoverable, but on your own terms, not random words that may be associated with your brand, but potentially in a bad or uncontrolled way.

Your reputation management company will give you a bunch of branding sites, to maximize your exposure and give you enough depth and range to make sure you are visible wherever, and however, you want to be. This is part of the nuts and bolts of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Most people know about SEO, and they know it’s important, but they’re not sure exactly how to make it work. A reputation management service is in the business of controlling SEO deftly, through focused keywords and phrases sprinkled around just the right places on the internet. By making sure the right things are written at the right places online, you’ll basically be teaching your audience how to think about you and your brand.

By taking the lead in how you are perceived online, you’ll be lengthening your career, as well as determining its trajectory. If you are getting really busy with your business online, you simply aren’t going to have the time to optimize your brand most effectively. But don’t let that get you down; just leave it to the professionals. You’ll find it’s a lot easier to control your reputation online than you had probably previously thought.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/11/controlling-what-you-cant-control-your-reputation-online/feed/0Creating More Engaging Blog Content: 14 Resourceshttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/10/engaging-blog-content/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/10/engaging-blog-content/#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 13:53:07 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31105The goal of every blog is to build a highly engaged readership. Doing this will allow you as blogger to interact with your target audience and gain greater insight to their interest, desires, and others. Knowing these will provide you information that you can use to create more targeted content to further engage your audience. The more connected your audience is with you […]

]]>The goal of every blog is to build a highly engaged readership. Doing this will allow you as blogger to interact with your target audience and gain greater insight to their interest, desires, and others. Knowing these will provide you information that you can use to create more targeted content to further engage your audience.

The more connected your audience is with you blog, the better your chances of meeting your other goals such as turning visitors into leads or customers. (Click Here to Tweet This Quote!)

To reach this point with your blog, you need to ensure that every post you publish from hereon out is optimized to maximize engagement with your audience.

Before we relay tips and ideas on how you can engage more with your blog content, we need to identify the factors that makes for an engaging blog content:

Lots of social shares – The more shares it tallies in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, the more authoritative it is to readers. You’d want your posts to reach as many shares as possible so that your content will not only reach your target readers, but also gain more influence in your niche.

Lots of blog comments – Comments from your readers are opportunities for you to develop your relationships with them. More blog comments also means that you are effective using your blog as an engagement tool.

Lots of subscribers – If you are running an email newsletter campaign, having more subscribers means more opportunities for you to engage with them, if not turn them into customers!

Having established the factors of engaging blog content, below are the tools and resources you can use to produce this.

To increase social shares:

ShareThis and AddThis – Both tools display social sharing buttons to popular sites at any position in your web page. Choosing the most appropriate position will make it easier for readers to share your blog content in their preferred sites.

Zapier – To automate your social sharing activity, use this paid social media tool and set it up so it creates updates about your latest blog post to different social sites. To learn how to do this, refer to this post at the Buffer Blog.

IFTTT – This tool is similar to Zapier, but is free and offers less social media sites. Nonetheless, this is a great way to save time from manually promoting your blog posts. Find out how you can set this up by reading this post at Tweak Your Biz.

Click to Tweet – Create tweetable quotes messages and embed them in your content. This way, people can click on them to post the quote on their Twitter accounts.

OnePress Social Locker – This nifty tool lets you “lock” your content so your visitors won’t be able to read the whole thing. To “unlock” the content, they need to share it on social media.

To increase blog comments:

CommentLuv – When fellow bloggers comments on your blog with this tool on, their comment will contain a link to their latest blog. Using CommentLuv encourages bloggers to comment and make a connection with you so they can get a link back to their blog as well.

Disqus – This commenting platform lets you and your readers vote up the best comments in the page. You can also tag other users in comments and they will be notified so they can reply back.

25 Smart Ways To Increase Your Blog Comments by Neil Patel – Who else to learn how to drive more blog comments from than one of the best bloggers around? Neil provides informative and actionable tips that you can easily apply on witing your blog content.

To increase subscribers:

SumoMe – This freemium tool has lots of features to help increase your blog traffic. But its email features such as the List Builder (opt-in form that fades into middle of screen), Scroll Box (form that appears up the page after visitors have scrolled down the page), and Smart Bar (a horizontal bar on top of the page) are some of its best. Use any of the three to hike up your email subscribers.

MailPoet – This newsletter plugin for WordPress can be featured on your sidebar so you can get the emails of visitors. The great thing about this tool is the ability to run different campaigns (newsletter, autoresponders, post notifications, etc.). For example, you can offer premium content (ebooks, whitepapers) for free if they sign up with the email address. After signing up, you can set up MailPoet to send out the link to the resource so they can download it from there.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/10/engaging-blog-content/feed/25 Site Metrics to Use for Comparing Blog Performancehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/08/site-metrics-blog-performance/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/08/site-metrics-blog-performance/#respondMon, 08 Jun 2015 12:00:49 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31093Part of the process of building your blog is the ability to measure its progress over time. You can’t expect your blog to grow at your preferred rate if you don’t bother to check out its data and insights. Doing so will allow you to determine the things you need to do to get your blog […]

]]>Part of the process of building your blog is the ability to measure its progress over time. You can’t expect your blog to grow at your preferred rate if you don’t bother to check out its data and insights. Doing so will allow you to determine the things you need to do to get your blog back on track.

For blog owners, installing Google Analytics before launching your blog should cover all the data you need to monitor your blog’s performance. It will reveal to you valuable metrics such as bounce rate and conversion rate, among others, as well create goal tracking to keep an eye on particular pages of your blog.

However, what if you want to monitor the performance of your competitor’s blogs? Since you can only access the analytics of a blog if you have access to its dashboard, you are pretty much in the dark when it comes to your competitor’s data.

Are they receiving more traffic than you do? Are their visitors staying longer on their blog pages than yours? Which among their pages are receiving the most traffic?

Instead of beating yourself up with data that you will never get your hands on, there is a way you can take to determine which among your blog and your competitors’ are performing much better. Below are site metrics that you should refer to for comparison and review.

Alexa Global Rank

Alexa is a web analytics tool similar to Google Analytics that provide you comprehensive data of your blog and your competitors’. The tool details the audience geography and their engagement, link profile, and more (especially if you purchase any of their Competitive and On-Site Analytics packages).

However, the most useful metric provided by Alexa is its Global Rank. This refers to your overall ranking among all websites in the world in terms of the amount of visitors. The highest rank is 1, so the farther you are away from this number, the lesser your traffic is.

Comparing your blog with your competitors’ using the Global Rank should give you an idea on how much traffic your blog is receiving as opposed to others.

Keep in mind that the Alexa Global Rank is just an estimate of your actual score. In fact, the metric is not as accurate as you would have wanted it to be. Nonetheless, Alexa’s Global Rank is a decent indicator on how you blog is positioned online.

Domain and Page Authority

According to Moz, the inbound marketing agency that developed both metrics, Domain Authority “predicts how well a website will rank on search engines” while Page Authority “predicts how well a specific page will rank on search engines.” This can be viewed when entering your blog URL at Open Site Explorer.

Both are made up of aggregated metrics from different sources, so it will be difficult to find a way to influence your score from these metrics. Nonetheless, both provide reliable estimates that you can refer to when determining which among the blogs you’re comparing is the best. On the scale of 0-100, the higher a blog’s score on either is, the more authoritative it is.

Link Profile

Referring again to the data provided by Open Site Explorer, it reveals to you the number of backlinks or inbound links from different domains your blog has. Breaking it down further, you will see the backlinks that pass equity down to your blog, and the types of links you have in your domain (internal and external).

Since backlinks are huge off-page SEO factors that help shape its Domain and Page Authorities, blogs with lots of equity-passing links pointing to their respective domains are much more authoritative compared to those with less of this link type.

Social Score

The number of times your blog has been shared on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter reveal to you its popularity in this specific channel. More shares means more people are visiting your site. You can enter your blog URL on sites like ShareTally to show you the number of shares you currently have.

The social score also works as a social proof – the higher your score is, the more it makes your blog more trustworthy in the eyes of visitors.

Overall Metric

This refers to the metric developed by EatonWeb, a paid blog directory that also computes for the blog’s authority online. The Overall Metric is comprised of the Strength (“measures over a dozen individual web metrics collected from a variety of sources”) and Momentum (“measurement of any given blog’s relative growth over time).

Strong blogs that are in fast decline are penalized, while weak (or fresh) blog that are growing are prioritized by the metric.

This is an interesting metric because it provides a fresh take on blog performance, despite not revealing how the metric is computed. This gives you a chance to analyze your blog, which will lead you to finding ways on how you can improve its progress.

Final thoughts:While these site metrics are hardly dead-ringers to the kind of data provided by Google Analytics and other tools that provide more comprehensive data, using the ones featured above provided reliable data that should allow you to compare and contrast your blog’s performance against others.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/08/site-metrics-blog-performance/feed/0How to Use Your Blog to Connect With Your Audiencehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/05/how-to-use-your-blog-to-connect-with-your-audience/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/05/how-to-use-your-blog-to-connect-with-your-audience/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2015 09:39:18 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31087By now everybody knows that if your want your company to succeed one of the things you need most is to have a company blog. Company blogs are important! They showcase a company’s personality, help endear the business to readers, show off expertise and commitment to their communities, etc. This is something everybody knows. What […]

]]>By now everybody knows that if your want your company to succeed one of the things you need most is to have a company blog. Company blogs are important! They showcase a company’s personality, help endear the business to readers, show off expertise and commitment to their communities, etc. This is something everybody knows. What not everybody knows is how to do the company blog “thing” well.

It’s relatively easy to set up your company’s blog. While many believe that WordPress isn’t the best idea for professional blogs, a simple WordPress installation and rerouting of your domain name servers takes less than an hour to set up. Viola! You’re done! Except….now you have to fill that blog with content. Here are some tips for how to do that.

Identify Your Audience

Hopefully by now you’ve already done this. Identifying and familiarizing yourself with your audience is an important part of market research. There is more to this than simple demographic information. It also means identifying which trends are the most popular, which styles of writing and language get the best responses, etc. For example, if you’re trying to market your products to a younger audience, conversational writing filled with slang and colloquialisms will work best. For an older market, something more formal in tone is usually required. Identify how your audience “sounds” before you start putting pixel to page and writing those blog posts.

A Quick Word About Slang

Do you remember being younger, when you would read books by adults trying to sound young? They would try to incorporate slang and shorthand and it always came out sounding stilted. Try to avoid this with your own blog posts. If you are unfamiliar with the language of your audience don’t try to force it into your blog posts or you’ll sound just as stilted in your blog posts as those books did when you were growing up.

The best way to learn how to incorporate audience-specific lingo is to spend some time in your audience’s world–not just trying to figure out how to market to them but figuring out how to befriend them. The more time you spend in that world, the more its language will work its way into your blog posts naturally.

What Helps the Most?

So many companies fall into the trap of only blogging about the services and products they offer. Don’t make this mistake? Remember: blogging is the grandparent of social media. The golden ratio applies. This means that only 20% of your blog posts should be promotional in nature. The rest need to be helpful in some way.

For example, let’s say you’re a lawyer. You wouldn’t want to only blog about the type of law your practice or why people need to hire lawyers more often. You would also want to post about the legal issues facing your client base.

A bankruptcy attorney, for example, could draw in clients by blogging about personal finance tips, credit repair and savings techniques. If your specialty is employment law, you can win clients by walking readers through different legal processes, like what the Social Security Administration wants to know before approving a disability application, or how to detail problems with supervisors or coworkers before reporting them for harassment.

Don’t Limit Yourself to Your Client Base

One technique that has been particularly successful is showing readers the inner workings of an industry. The KISSMetrics blog is a great example of this. KISSMetrics is a company that specializes in helping clients track their web analytics and site engagement. Instead of simply creating posts that define the different aspects of analytics tracking and metrics measurement, the company creates fully fleshed out case studies and in-depth research reports about why metrics matter, how to measure them and how to implement what you learn from those measurements and, well, anything and everything that is even remotely related to marketing–even if it isn’t analytics specific, like this report on the science of color.

A person could read the KISSMetrics blog and learn enough that they don’t need to hire the company at all, but KISSMetrics isn’t exactly hurting for business! In fact, their blog is one of the most respected blogs online, even outside of marketing and web development circles.

What it all boils down to is this: if you want your company’s blog to be successful and help you attract clients, you need to use it to really serve your audience. Calls to action, etc. are great but remember: a blog post is not a sales page. Blogs are supposed to inform first, sell second (if at all). Serve your readers first and the money will follow.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/05/how-to-use-your-blog-to-connect-with-your-audience/feed/0Approaching SEO Like the Dating Gamehttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/03/seo-dating-game/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/03/seo-dating-game/#commentsWed, 03 Jun 2015 12:00:29 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31073The objective of search engine optimization is simple: get atop search rankings for your target keywords. However, as with all simple things, the process of ranking on the first page of search results is quite complicated. By observing on- and off-page optimization practices over a period of time and implementing different SEO campaigns, you’ll eventually reach the first page […]

]]>The objective of search engine optimization is simple: get atop search rankings for your target keywords. However, as with all simple things, the process of ranking on the first page of search results is quite complicated.

For those new to the SEO game, you will need to learn the technical aspects involved in applying the best practices and campaigns . This can be achieved much quicker if you can associate the process of SEO to a common activity that you have found yourself doing over and over.

If you have experience in the dating game, then SEO is definitely right up your alley.

Using the analogy of dating with SEO, you will understand the foundations that make for an effective SEO practice and campaign.

Relationship = link profile

In dating: You are defined by the relationships you hold with other people, whether it’s your family, friends, and past lovers. Their insights on you make up for how you are perceived by others. If they think you’re a bad person, then you most likely are a bad person.

This spills over with the person you’re currently seeing. Even if you try to cover your past tracks by showing your good side all the time, he or she will eventually catch once he or she hears about your past exploits. Corollary, if you have good terms with all the people who have gotten to know you, even your exes, then it will be easier for the person you’re dating to trust you.

This does not mean that your life will ultimately be determined by how other people see you. What this shows is that their insight into your life and their experiences with you can influence the decision of the person you’re dating on whether or not she takes the next step with you.

In SEO: The websites where you have inbound links to your own informs search engines the kind of website you’re running. Backlinks work like testimonials to your website – if bloggers or webmasters love your site or blog, then there’s a great chance they will link to one of your pages. However, you also have to consider the kind of websites linking back to you.

If you have lots of backlinks found in content farms or other low-quality sites, then Google will consider your site untrustworthy and will even take your site out of the search results. On the other hand, those with backlinks from established sites like Mashable, Busines Insider, and Forbes can expect to climb up the search results for their target keyword.

Appearance = web design

In dating: Your appearance, while arguably not the most important factor in the dating game, is crucial in attracting the people you want to date in the first place. Appearance here is not limited to you looking like Brandon Cooper or Jennifer Lawrence – it has more to do with your non-physical features: confidence, clothing, demeanor, and even hygiene, among many other things.

In SEO: In order to reach your SEO goals, you need to engage your website visitors. This can be done by choosing the most appropriate design or theme for your website. How your website is designed and how fast it loads determine what visitors will do next after clicking your site. Referring to this awesome post at Hubspot about web design statistics, websites that load longer than three seconds and do not have a responsive or mobile-friendly design are at a serious disadvantage.

Conversations = content

In dating: Now that you have compelled your date to go out with you, it’s now at the hands of the conversations you will be having with this person. The kind of things you will be talking about on your first date will determine whether or not you’ll go out a second time.

You can refer to ways on how to make the best out of your conversations with your date, but if ultimately falls down on who you are as a person – your interests, hobbies, work, and outlook in life. These things will seep into your discussions and will indicate the kind of person you are, as well as the person you’re dating.

In SEO: Once your target audience visits your website, the goal now is to turn them into leads or customers. This can be done by developing actionable content that will encourage visitors to commit to what your site is offering. By swooning them with content that they want to read, there’s a great chance that your visitors will give you their sweet and resounding “yes” into becoming your customers.

Final thoughts: Looking at how dating a person is one approach to making SEO much easier to understand in layman’s terms. There are other common activities to demystify SEO as this technical online practice, and the post above should be effective enough to help you figure out how SEO works at its basest level.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/03/seo-dating-game/feed/1How Can You Increase eCommerce Conversions In A Competitive Industryhttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/01/how-can-you-increase-ecommerce-conversions-in-a-competitive-industry/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/01/how-can-you-increase-ecommerce-conversions-in-a-competitive-industry/#commentsMon, 01 Jun 2015 06:30:40 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31067For those of you running an online store, the summer season is one of your favorite times of the year. However, in a competitive industry like clothing, there are thousands of other online stores vying for consumer attention, and some of them have a better stock in terms of quality/range than your store. Despite the […]

]]>For those of you running an online store, the summer season is one of your favorite times of the year. However, in a competitive industry like clothing, there are thousands of other online stores vying for consumer attention, and some of them have a better stock in terms of quality/range than your store.

Despite the increase in competition in eCommerce space each year, there is always an opportunity to improve by focusing on increasing your conversions. This is essential if you want to improve revenue this financial year.

What often prevents online store owners from concentrating on the conversion metric is that improving it is time consuming, challenging, and complex. In reality, however, you can significantly increase conversions by making a few tweaks to your website and adding some features, such as the following:

Optimize your checkout process

Shopping cart abandonment haunts many eCommerce site owners, and it has a significant impact on conversions. As a result, reducing shopping cart abandonment is the first thing you should be looking at when trying to improve conversions.

One way of reducing abandonment is to keep the checkout process simple and concise. WebCredible’s survey informed that 10 percent shoppers leave carts because of complicated and multiple steps involved in checkout processes. They were also annoyed by product suggestions, registration forms, and surveys before they were allowed to purchase an item.

Apart from the length of the checkout process, simplicity matters. You can have low conversions even with a one-step checkout process if it isn’t simplified. A good checkout process is illustrated on ModCloth’s website; the retailer has listed only four steps in the checkout process and each of them are simplified.

Make your site mobile-friendly

According to the Bluehost blog post about improving your online store, today’s shoppers are going to use mobile and tablet devices to shop. Your online store may not work as well as shoppers expect if you don’t have a mobile version of your website. Also, 88 percent of users revealed they won’t return to the website if they have a negative experience in the first visit.
With so many devices being used today, there are multiple screen sizes with which shoppers will navigate your online store, so it is important to keep your online store responsive.

You can have a responsive design and keep it simple, keep important information above the fold, and make sure the design adjusts to display the site seamlessly in all screen sizes. It would also improve user experience if fonts are large and site buttons are easy to use on mobile.

Create urgency with value propositions

Buy today and receive a 50 percent discount, only 5 left in stock. Anybody who has seen such a sentence knows what’s up. And if you are interested in a product that has such an urgency associated with it, you don’t want to miss out on it. Therefore, you can create a sense of urgency to increase your eCommerce conversion rate.
Crafting effective value-propositions may be a challenge at first as it can be difficult to figure out what resonates with shoppers. However, after you conduct some A/B tests, you’ll be able to see how different value propositions are measuring up. For best conversion results, augment your call-to-actions with effective value propositions.

]]>http://www.blogherald.com/2015/06/01/how-can-you-increase-ecommerce-conversions-in-a-competitive-industry/feed/8TemplateMonster is Giving Away a Custom Deck of Web Design-themed Cardshttp://www.blogherald.com/2015/05/28/templatemonster-is-giving-away-a-custom-deck-of-web-design-themed-cards/
http://www.blogherald.com/2015/05/28/templatemonster-is-giving-away-a-custom-deck-of-web-design-themed-cards/#commentsThu, 28 May 2015 12:00:24 +0000http://www.blogherald.com/?p=31053An infographic on web design trends was posted on TemplateMonster a short while ago. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it here. It shows how web design trends have changed over recent years. Back in 2004 websites looked a bit different from those we use today. They featured cluttered designs with chaotically ordered […]

]]>An infographic on web design trends was posted on TemplateMonster a short while ago. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it here. It shows how web design trends have changed over recent years.

Back in 2004 websites looked a bit different from those we use today. They featured cluttered designs with chaotically ordered elements. Quite often, the sites were overloaded with various visual effects. As a result, it was somewhat difficult to focus on the content and find the information in which you were interested.

During the same period of time, pale color schemes started growing in popularity. Actually, this approach turned out to be quite effective, and it’s no big surprise that it is widely used today.

Flash technology was also incredibly popular during those years. In the 2000s it was as important for web designers as CSS, Java and jQuery are today. Flash was the most effective solution to make a site look more alive and dynamic.

Since that time, IT has come a long way and evolved into a practical science. One of the trendiest directions of 2015 is material design. Originally, it was introduced by Google. Along with monochromatic colors and micro-interactions, the material design sites ensure a striking look and unmatched performance for any business project.

As mentioned above, TemplateMonster decided to return to the subject of web design trends and introduce the same idea in another format. If you are interested in this niche and want to know more about the evolution of web design, new ideas and trends, you are going to like what TemplareMonster has created.

Let’s take a closer look at what they have done. The company has released a deck of custom playing cards that illustrate the major web design trends of the last 12 years. Each card describes one particular trend.

How does one obtain one of these decks?

It’s simple. You can win a custom designed deck of cards by taking a simple quiz based on these trends. It starts on May 26 and will be available for one week only, so you’d better hurry up. Once you complete the test, share this news in social networks. Remember, the more actively you share, the more chances you have of winning a prize. So go ahead and get yourself a cool, custom-made deck for absolutely no charge.

And one more thing – those users who answer all questions correctly will get a custom-made badge – Web Design Guru, as a bonus.